


Alien: Covenant(Sequel)

by nicoleamari



Category: Alien (1979), Alien: Covenant, Prometheus (2012)
Genre: F/M, Multi, Post Alien Covenant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-16 10:11:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11251008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleamari/pseuds/nicoleamari
Summary: The USCSS Halenum is pursuing the distress call sent out by the USCSS Covenant, in doing so, they stumble across an android by the name of Walter with a dangerous secret.





	1. Chapter 1

Ship Name: Halenum  
Company: Weyland-Yutani  
Crew: 13 excluding 1(one) AI and 1(one) AI mainframe computer  
Destination: Origae 6

 

Victoria Rivers 

 

The android has thin fingers. They are cool to the touch and thus, I shrink away from him, cringing at the feel of cold, after so much time under controlled temperatures. The android is puzzled by my actions, tilting his head and I hold my hands up, hoping it hasn’t taken offence. I have no idea what model this is, whether it's one of those who has impulses close to feelings or whether it's like the robots we used to be shown on holos. Either way, I’m hindering it’s work and chide myself for acting like a child, it’s just cold. 

 

On Earth, I loved the cold but here, amongst stars and galaxies and places no other person has ever been, the cold was no longer friendly. The rest of the crew is still waking, someone yawns loudly and another hurls whatever the hell was still in their stomach into hopefully a bowl. 

 

“Thank you.” I say quietly to the android, I don’t know his name as he has yet to have spoken and I wonder briefly if LIN-dir is down, as I can’t hear his usual burble. He nods, his eyes tracing my face in a brief analysis.

 

“What was your name? It’s slipped my mind I’m sorry.” He pauses, mid pack-up and smiles gingerly in my direction.

 

“I’m Alexander. I’m the most advanced current model of my kind and I am Weyland-Yutani Industries most stable form of android, I am a technician and an empath and I co-ordinate the goings on within Halenum, so you don’t need to worry about anything Miss Rivers. LIN-dir is currently down, his external modem was damaged when we passed into the quadrant and I’m working to fix this issue.” I know for a fact one of the other crew members, Eleanor, hates androids and that she’s going to have a shitfit when she finds out we have one on Halenum with us. 

 

“What did you do whilst we slept? I mean, if that isn’t too rude of me to ask.” I mutter as an afterthought and another ghost of a smile distorts his features. He’s a perfect specimen, so much so that I wonder if it were female scientists who created him as he’s the most beautiful creature I have laid eyes on, though I keep this to myself. He does notice my heart rate rising and gives me a brief, concerned look when I shake my head nervously.

 

“I read, studied languages. Kept busy. I had manual tasks I had to complete and that often kept me busy for days. I wasn’t bored.” He is one of the more human androids I have ever encountered and I find his voice relaxes me. I wonder if that’s a setting in their wiring. Androids aren’t my section, though I’ve always had a lot of interest in them and the way Alexander is built intrigues me. He looks so human I could almost forget he isn’t, however some back on Earth were clearly anything but. They looked more like robots than they did humans and it was unsettling, in my opinion. Eleanor has never told me as to why she hates the more empathetic versions but there’s usually horror stories and stigmas surrounding the different types of android, empaths are the most dangerous but the most effective and now we have one on board.

I make my way down to where the crew showers are and select a standard set of clothes in my size before stepping inside and closing the cubicle. I discard the cryo clothes and step under the water. It’s so hot that at first it scalds my skin, though I don’t care, the water seems to wash all trace of cryo sleep off of me and for that I’m glad. I stretch my arms above my head and groan quietly as my entire body seems to loosen beneath the flow of water. Sounds bring my attention to the fact that there are now others entering cubicles beside mine and I wonder briefly who else is actually up and moving, last I checked I was one of the only ones that didn’t get cryo-sickness. I wash my hair with shampoo, then conditioner before scrubbing at my shoulders and stomach with a bar of soap, all three smell the same and for a moment, I miss my selection on Earth. With a sigh, I tilt my head back into the steady flow, making a mental note to ask Alexander if there’s any scent other than coconut available, I don’t mind it but it’s going to get old pretty damn quickly if we’re stuck on the ship for the next 3 weeks before we reach the outskirts of the quadrant.

 

The feel of the towel, the softness, it feels almost foreign. Everything out here is hard, tough, made to survive, quite like the crew. I slip into the slim fit pants, pull a tank top over my head and slide into sneakers, they’re white and thankfully they fit comfortably. The zip up hoodie I leave open as I dry my hair, it will only make me sweat and that reminds me of deodorant. Eleanor has a stack of natural ones but roll ons suit me just fine, mostly because the natural stuff doesn’t do shit. Nodding at the captain, the other person in the changing rooms with me, I move towards the mirror. My hair is shoulder length, the longest allowed length out here. It’s light, almost silver but that’s probably due to my extensive use of toner back on Earth and as I yank half of it back into a bun, I can see I still have brassy undertones in the hair closest to the back of my neck. The bun is small but it opens my face somewhat and at the moment, I can’t bear for it to be up, killing my circulation.

 

The captain, Chopra, is finger combing his hair back and I offer my brush to him, though he shakes his head to decline and I return it to my toliet bag, shoving the entire bag back into my locker and he moves in step with me as we head down to the main bridge. He moves heavier than I do which unsettles me a tad, I move near silently unless I’m in heels, so it probably has to do with how little I weigh and that I was a gymnast for 12 years. His wife is one of the few on this ship that I don’t get along with, mostly because she’s useless but also because she took my partner’s spot in the crew, meaning Noah had to remain on Earth and I was on my own in space, with no one to rely on. No co-pilot. The only other pilot on the ship would be the android, as I now realise but I wouldn’t trust him, not as completely, there were somethings I was okay with letting androids take care of but though empaths could think for themselves, they were still wired and that meant that they made the most intelligent choice, not always the right one.

 

Alexander and another man who I know to be Tate, are already up there, speaking quietly though they lapse into silence when we enter. I smile warmly at both of them, waving at Alexander who returns the gesture to my surprise. Chopra eyes me briefly but decides to keep his mouth shut as I head over to the cockpit, sliding into the chair I flick all the panels on one side up and then I can see in front of us. Space somehow feels less vast when you’re in it, surrounded by blackness yet part of it and I pull up a holo, glancing over our itinerary briefly before I spin around on the chair, glad that I had detected Alexander moving to stand near me as otherwise it would have startled me. I smile up at him, standing so he’s not towering over me.

 

“Miss Rivers, I checked this all out earlier and everything is under control, I believe I am the other designated pilot though you are acknowledged as the only other third tier besides Mr Chopra, so in the event of an emergency I will act as co-pilot only whilst you make all manual decisions. Otherwise, LIN-dir will make judgments which you and I will follow.” I forget how intense empaths are, they can say something utterly earth shattering and be completely neutral and though I’m not surprised by his words, I’m a little taken aback by his tone, or therefore lack of. I wonder briefly if there is something amiss in his wirings and make another note to check in with LIN-dir that our AI is running smoothly. 

 

The rest of the crew is dawdling in and Eleanor in the middle of making her way over. She scowls upon seeing the empath as she slips into the chair with me, her skinny ass on one of my thighs and I wrap my arms loosely around her stomach, her fingers drawing patterns in the small hairs coating my arms.

 

Chopra begins roll call then so I assume everyone’s out, several people looking a little worse for wear and Eleanor shifts uncomfortably in my arms as we wait.

 

“Cameron.” Daisy Cameron, physicist, makes amazing pancakes.

 

“Edwards.” Luke, engineer and our resident asshole.

 

“Fuller.” That’s Eleanor, she’s our human on-board medic.

 

“Melton.” Scott Melton is an astrophysicist and he’s bloody brilliant at what he does, plus he’s the funniest guy I know. He waves a hand, notices me looking and shoots finger guns. I grin at him over Eleanor’s shoulder.

 

“Napolino.” There’s two of them, the married Italian research couple, Valentina and Giacomo. Val and Jack for those who can’t be fucked pronouncing their real names.

 

“Rivers.” I wave a hand and briefly, all eyes are on me. The snarky pilot who has no co-pilot because of Chopra’s useless wife. Everyone knows that story. 

 

“Rupprecht.” The German woman is quiet, intense even, she works the lab and has all the protocols committed to memory. 

 

“Tashimo.” Akari Tashimo is the Japanese rep for the company, short and smart, though she’s not much fun. She and Chopra get along well and I think she’s his second.

 

“Tate.” The guy is all muscle, I don’t even know what he does but he looks like he has more muscle on his body combined than in his brain.

 

“Valerie.” Cue the oldest person aboard. He’s nearing fifty, with dark hair that’s grey streaked and really piercing blue eyes. He’s the company’s rep from America, he was an astronaut and they dragged him out to do this shit.

 

I spot Chopra’s wife. She looks the worst and I grin behind Eleanor’s hair. Everyone else on the trip knew they could handle cryo, but Mrs Priss, not so damn sure. 

 

“I’d like you all to meet our resident android, Alexander, he’s a technician and pilot so he will work with Rivers.” I nod flatly and I see the rest of the crew press their lips together. We all know just why we have to have an android co-pilot.

 

“The mainframe AI, LIN-dir is currently down under maintenance, apparently he got hit on his outer modem so no one panic if you can’t hear him.” Chopra begins to tell the others miscellaneous stuff, like when we eat, where everyone sleeps and showers are separate. I roll my eyes at this though I notice Alexander is watching me. I want to draw him, he’s so very pretty, almost perfect. His features are perfectly symmetrical, he’s an artist’s dream. Noah was the artist, she was the one who could create beauty out of few pencil strokes but me, everything had to be random. Lines, eventually joining, making a face, eyes, lips, nose. And you sit there, wonder what I’d drawn, a mess of lines, then step back and you’d see. Noah and I took art classes as our elective in college. I close my eyes then as an overwhelming wave of homesickness rolls over me, I miss Noah. I miss Australia. I miss home. A throat is cleared and I realise everyone’s eyes are on me. I glance at Chopra and then Alexander, in my ear, hisses.

 

“He wants to know if you want full control of the flight deck while LIN-dir is under maintenance.” I nod, both at Chopra and at Alexander’s words and spin back around on my chair, Eleanor had gotten off me at some point in my reverie and is chatting to Luke. I’d forgotten the two of them were close. Instead of brooding, I turn my attention to the flight computer and my holo, assessing the course we are on when I see it, nearly 20 minutes after everyone has headed to their own quarters or to do their own thing, glinting slightly off screen but it’s still visible.

 

“Hey, Chopra, is there supposed to be another craft all the way out here?”

 

Alexander

 

I knew that she would see it. She was one of the most perceptive humans I’d encountered, despite her still being nearly as clueless as the others. LIN-dir had supposedly been the only AI for the journey, I had been a last minute addition from Weyland, the founder’s son himself had requested that we investigated a ship on the outer rim, there were murmurs of possible life forms aboard and though I was the only one briefed on such matters, LIN-dir had acknowledged the plans, though I knew he would not spout them to the humans.

 

Rivers was a difficult situation. She was both beautiful and kind, which would make it harder in time for me to do what I had to do but she was the only one aboard the ship who wouldn’t have a pair, making her the easiest accessible for the mission I had to complete before we entered orbit of the ship that they were calling Apollo, for reasons both unknown and humorous to several but clearly some members of the crew don’t find it funny. Meera, the captain’s wife, laughed but the way Rivers’ face tightened, her limbs froze and her eyes narrowed, it was not humorous. Fuller does not laugh nor do Tate or Valerie and Rupprecht, Tashimo and both Napolinos look confused. Melton scoffs, Cameron rolls her eyes and I watch Rivers’ back as she leaves the room, the door shutting silently behind her. Fuller watches her leave and I note the sadness that washes her face. The two of them are friends, I have noticed.

 

I find her in the gym. Her hair is loose and silver streaked and she is lithe, not a crouching tiger as such but she would make a convincing leopard or cheetah. She is fast and there is strength in the muscle that cords her limbs, she lunges and dances across the mat, her body a blur of movement. I wait for her to slow, I know she’s been aware of my presence since I entered the room so I stand at the edge of the mat patiently. She jogs over soon enough, wiping her mouth after she tips water into it and I smile at her. She returns it quickly, folding her arms to hide her stomach and she jitters from foot to foot.

 

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” I ask her and she chuckles as though my question is amusing. It wasn’t meant to be but I smile anyway.

 

“I was in the war, for those of us who joined late, we had to know how to enter into combat, with or without firearms. Given how low the count of firearms was towards the end of the war, we were pretty safe, though they bombed the shit out of my team. It was me and Noah that survived, that’s why we started flying together in the first place.” She sits on the edge of the mat, crossing her legs and toying with the frayed hem of her pants. She had long fingernails, painted black and one is chipped.

 

“Noah was supposed to be the other pilot. We went to school together, joined the war effort together. We were supposed to come out here together, live and die out here, in space but it wasn’t meant to be. We didn’t speak after she got denied. Well, I tried but she pushed me out. Noah would have loved it out here.” She leans back, falling backwards and lays on the ground, her face turned up towards the ceiling. It’s reflective of the other side, teleglass and through it, I can see space. She stares out at it with a look I can only think of as being wistful on her face. I notice she is no longer smiling. 

 

“You like stars?” I ask before I can stop myself. I know she likes stars. She majored in astronomy in college, her elective was fine art and her minor was in physics. She’d dreamed of stars on the journey here, she was one of the few who dreamed frequently so I got them, got to see inside her head. Weyland said she would be the best one for the implantation because she was smart and quick-thinking as well as stubborn and untrusting. She would be the only one to survive, as long as I got it into her. She looks at me then. Her eyes are sad and in them, I can see my reflection. I look away and I sense her stiffen slightly. She thinks she’s upset me.

 

“Yeah, I love stars. They were so cold, yet so beautiful and untamed, I fell in love with them when I was very young. My mum loved them too, she even made my middle name her favourite thing in our solar system. It was supposed to be my first name but dad said no, it was too weird. Jupiter. I love the name,” She talks softly, her voice full of emotion and for a bizarre moment, I want to put my arm around her. I don’t, I cannot risk attachment if the implantation goes wrong.

 

“Victoria Jupiter Rivers. They called my sister Olenna and my brother Lucien and I got Victoria,” She scoffs, smacking the mat gently with her palm. Victoria means victory. I wonder what that foreshadows.

 

The craft we are now bound for, under Tashimo’s and Chopra’s discretion, is a hostile one. They don’t know this. I do. David 8 may have attempted to disguise his identity to the crew, but the moment Weyland picked up the familiar patterns, he ordered a halt on the ship and for them to wait until we joined them. We were already on route and given the closeness of our communications, David 8 was able to send LIN-dir and I a message. I was able to communicate with him, several times, briefing him on who and what was on board. He was particularly interested in Victoria, for reasons I did not concern myself with but I made it quite clear she is the one Weyland wishes to survive, to that he chuckled.

 

We would dock on Covenant within the next week and I could already pick up on the way the crew felt about this. Most of the crew were nervous, they had heard of the disaster that plagued the Covenant crew though something that made me think was that Victoria was looking forward to joining the Covenant something I eventually asked her about. She was one of the only ones who kept their own hours, she usually woke when the rest of the crew was having dinner and would head to her quarters about the time they started lunch, Fuller, Tashimo and Melton did the same, though I had previously noted that three of them seemed to be friends and Tashimo was attempting to fit it with them as she seemed to realise they were an easier going bunch than the others. Rupprecht, who Tashimo was also close with, kept odd hours, even more different Victoria’s and she slept a fair bit, I believed she was the designated partner to Tashimo and thus the two spent a lot of time together. 

 

I was on the main deck analysing the proposed flight path and I hadn’t heard her enter the room, the only thing that unnerved me about Victoria was how quietly she moved, I could rarely pick up on when she entered a room if she was moving quietly enough and if she didn’t announce herself, meaning I usually kept cameras on her to track her movement as neither LIN-dir or I detected her and often sensors didn’t either, leaving areas she entered in darkness though she didn’t seem to mind it. The first inkling that I was alone was when something spun in the corner of my vision, I swung around to greet whoever it was but there seemed to be nowhere there, so I resumed my analysis, turning back around and there she was. Her hair was damp and held off her face in a small half bun, the rest of her hair reaching her shoulders in short waves and the freckles dotting her skin seemed very dark against her golden skin.

 

“Hey Alex,” She said, drinking from a mug I hadn’t noticed her holding, a smile touching her lips as she eyed the systems in front of us. She was the only one to give me a nickname, she said it was the Australian in her but I was quite pleased, nicknames implied affection and that was what I needed from her. She seemed quite comfortable in my presence as well, she constantly smiled and nodded at me if we saw each other and if she was feeling like a sparring partner, I was always the one she would ask. 

 

“Hello Victoria,” She had allowed me to call her that and I had been thrilled, apart from Fuller and Melton, everyone else was to call her Rivers. We didn’t often had long conversations on the main deck, that was usually reserved from the gym when she had beaten me. She often beat me. She had worked out my patterns and I had yet to totally understand hers, which means she beats me, though it takes her a while, she has beaten me more times than I have beaten her. She’s fast, faster than I can hope to match. She’s hard to anger as well, I can taunt Chopra and Tate into lashing out but she rarely snaps and weakens in anger. 

 

“You are looking forward to joining Covenant?” I ask, attempting a curious note in my tone and she catches it, her eyebrows wrinkling for the briefest of moments before her face smooths over again, dark eyes set as her expression totally evens out. She nods then and I note her discomfort, she’s picking at her fingernails and her eyes flash from my head to my feet in a quick sweep. 

 

“Yeah, I am actually. My friend Daniels, she’s one of the crew on the Covenant. I met her when she and her husband were doing Everest, we climbed together and she’s the one who suggested I step up for Halenum. It’s probably better that Noah didn’t join us, they didn’t get along very well, Noah was outspoken and Dani, she’s a lot more quaint with her words. You’ll like her, she’s smart and she’s very kind.” She closes her eyes briefly and I assume she’s reliving another moment so I lapse into silence to allow her mind to run. Then she opens her eyes again and sighs gently, I note moisture in her tear ducts though her heartbeat is even.

 

“I was friends with another member of the crew, we trained together before we were accepted onto our individual journeys. To my knowledge, she is one of those deceased on the ship.” There’s a sadness in her eyes, it’s unmissable and I feel like I should offer her support of some kind but she tightens her lips and the conversation is over. Her eyes roam the system grid and I watch her closely as she places a finger on a spot I had not investigated. 

 

“That’s moving. Wha- why is it moving?” Her eyes are wide as she expands the grid, confusion darting across her features and I advance on the board, noting the speck she has enlarged. When she speaks next, her voice is risen in a tremulous fashion. 

 

“What the fuck is that?”


	2. Chapter 2

Victoria

 

The vessel, uncharted and untraced, carries precious cargo. It hangs in space, large and like a gigantic black doughnut that someone’s taken a bite from. As the only pilot besides the android, who no one really trusts, I’m the one they send out with Valerie. He’s the only actual astronaut aboard and between the both of us, we have had the most training when it comes to moving about in space. The suits we don are not ones I’m used to, they’re thicker and they’re less flexible, more like an exoskeleton than anything else I could compare it to. The hard ridges that laced the arms and legs of the suit felt similar enough to bone that I inwardly cringed as I finished sealing myself inside it. We leave Alex in the ship, with instructions to leave within the hour if we don’t respond within an allotted time space. Communications are sketchy sometimes when we’re out this deep but Alex has an internal transmitter that means we have near constant contact with him in the ship. 

 

The first time I stepped out into space, my air was on wrong. There’s nothing like suffocating in front of your favourite view. This time however I am perfectly stable, all my levels are fine and Alex smiles down at me gently. 

 

“You’re all set Rivers.” He checks over Valerie as I move to the airlock and then Valerie joins me, smiling faintly and then we step out.

 

The ship is cold, dark and has a damp feeling that makes my skin crawl. Valerie moves ahead as I investigate the sides of the ship. It makes my stomach do a turn as it looks like the inside of a large creature and I move slightly faster in order to catch up to Valerie and the safety of the other person. My torchlight catches it so briefly I almost don’t see them but I know them as well as I know the ones that sit around my own neck, cold against my throat. Dog tags. 

 

I inspect them, not bothering to call out to Valerie, I don’t wanna alarm him. Elizabeth Shaw was the name inscribed on the metal and to my surprise, I recognised it. She was a scientist who had gone missing not long before Halenum was supposed to depart. They had lost all contact with the very expensive research ship, Prometheus, though details were not released to the public, there was a belief that Weyland himself was onboard. Shaw had a book, one that I’d had to study in college. She was bit kooky but she’d made plenty of money off of that book so I guess it wasn’t so bad for her.

 

I’m startled from my thoughts by Valerie’s yell. Terror surges through me briefly but he doesn’t sound in pain, just alarmed and I move as quickly as I can in the suit to join him. Glancing at my tracker, I make him to be about 20 metres ahead and hurry there, drawing the single weapon from its clasp on my thigh. The room is dimly lit by Valerie’s torchlight but he’s nowhere near it, the room is large enough that the light bounces off of the round structure of the room and in doing so, illuminates not only Valerie, but a man, his form crumpled onto the ground and I see a tousle of dark hair. I move to Valerie’s side and we share a look very briefly before we both move to work, I help Valerie to heave the android up over his shoulder, the synthetic is heavier than he looks and Valerie can no longer bend his knees with the android’s added weight. So I’m the one in the lead now, scanning the way ahead as Valerie and I move as quickly as possible back the way we’ve come.

 

Alex near jolts in surprise when we reenter the ship. I stiffen as I watch him, there’s something up with him and though I can’t immediately figure out what his problem is, I know it’s to do with the android Valerie and I lay down on the floor of the ship. 

 

It’s his odd behaviour that incites my immediate check of the ship’s communications. It’s a hunch and I hate that I’m not wrong in my distrust. Alex has been communicating with the Covenant since we got within range and I note the circuits of the android he’s communicating with, they’re a few older than the one we brought in from the donut ship. Glancing over the plans for the Covenant is where I make my discovery. Covenant is supposed to be equipped with an android of the make of the one we discovered. Fear shoots through me briefly as I begin to understand the gravity of the situation. I need to get to this android before Alex wipes him. I need to know what happened.

 

I remained with the android in the med bay, Alex was more lenient with me thus I got my own way around him more often than not. Alex was doing something I didn’t understand the concept of, something I guessed was an android thing and thus I watched curiously, trying to see if I could mimic his actions if it came down to that. He seemed to be aware of my gaze, though he didn’t say anything as he worked. Watching as he reattached something on the synthetic, I looked over it again. It was a slightly older model, outdated now but still functional and not old enough that Alex couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I note that it’s missing half it’s forearm and my eyes narrow in, it looks like it’s been burnt off as it’s very uneven. 

 

I move around Alex to check the other one and reach out to poke the flesh. Suddenly the fingers lunge out, catching my wrist and I nearly shriek, but instead I manage a soft cry, letting the scream catch in my throat. Both androids must be aware of my heartbeat, because Alex holds out his palms to me where the other one looks up at me, apologising gently though he looks startled, not just by our presence but seemingly his own.

 

“Can you identify yourself?” Alex asks but I shoot him a look, waving him away and I help the android to sit up carefully, he seems aware of his limbs but like he’s in a dream. I wonder briefly if he’s been reset and try to remember anything on the prior batch of androids, I did a thesis on a model similar but I’m not sure if I can properly diagnose him. Glancing at Alex, I note he’s running some diagnostics already and I lean in closely to him so that the android on the table doesn’t hear me.

 

“Get me Edwards, I need him to check the wiring.” I command and Alex nods, leaving the room. I turn to the android, glancing briefly towards where Alex just exited from and then I begin to speak.

 

“My name is Victoria Rivers and I’m the pilot on the ship Halenum, we are the following ship of the USCSS Covenant, we are soon to join the Covenant for the last leg of their journey to Origae-6. You’re a synthetic, an android, one of Weyland-Yutani’s creations and I can’t quite guess your model but I know how to fix you. What I’m curious about, and the reason I sent the other android away, is to why you were found on another ship, when you are recorded as being on the Covenant. There’s another android aboard who calls himself Walter, but from his circuits, I know he’s an older model, whereas you fit the description of the android aboard Covenant. Are you Walter?” I almost didn’t have to ask. I knew he was and he knew it too. But I also knew that Alex had communicated with the android onboard the Covenant and he would have recognised the signature and he had said nothing, even when we brought Walter onboard. The weight of his betrayal made my stomach tighten but as I inspected Walter’s frame before I held out a data chip gingerly. He took it, glancing up at me and I nod at him.

 

“Do it. I fear Alexander will wipe you and I can’t let that happen. I need to know what happened and why the fuck the other android stranded you in space and why in seven hells Alexander and this other android are in cahoots.” Walter nodded, inserting the chip and I checked over his spinal strand, it had been damaged to my annoyance but Edwards’ dumb ass could fix that up. He handed back the chip and I glance quickly around the room before I slipped it into the compartment hidden behind my dogtags. 

 

“The android aboard the Covenant, his name is David and he was the survivor of the Prometheus research craft. He’s twisted, his time spent alone has driven him insane. He creates these creatures, these neomorphs and they killed all the crew but two, Daniels and Tennessee. He’s dangerous, insane and he cannot be trusted. He was the one who stranded me on the planet we found him on, he killed all the natives and I’m willing to believe he has some of his inventions stowed away on the ship. He will try to kill me and anyone he thinks knows of the plight. You are not safe, especially since your android is in contact with him.” I shake my head at him, Alexander wouldn’t hurt me but I know how I can protect Walter. He won’t like it but I’m not going to tell him. I reach out, as if to cajole him and pull his spinal cord out slightly. His body jerks and his eyes go wide very briefly but then he nods, as if understanding and his eyes shut slowly. 

 

“What do we have here?” Edwards is a Pom and has one of the most nasally accents I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing. I glance over at him, nodding at Alex faintly before I step back from the android, touching his face briefly as I push a concerned look onto my face. 

 

“I think he’s been reset. He keeps kind of turning on and off. Do you reckon you can check out his circuits?” I ask Edwards, watching his reaction. He knows something’s up with me. I would never speak to him so nicely. There was always a snarky tone at least added whenever I speak with Edwards. I rely on Alexander not being able to notice and instead focus on Edwards, reaching up briefly to play with the dog tags around my neck. His eyes don’t betray him and I smile, widely, first at Alexander and then at Edwards. If this is going to work, Alexander is not to be trusted and is not to be let know of the secrets Walter has given me.

 

Alexander

 

Neither of them know the gravity of the situation. Edwards is painfully ignorant where Victoria is much more suspicious though she has yet to broach the issue with me, instead she brings forth Edwards to check out the other synthetic, the one David calls Walter. I have yet to alert him of the discovery of the android he thought he left on the barren planet but before I can do anything I need to wipe Walter. He seems to have already been reset and Victoria is clearly aggravated that the other android knows next to nothing as she departs rather quickly; raking slim fingers through her short hair in something I pick up as frustration. She returns not long after with Melton, requesting he check out the damaged spinal column of the android and I note the way they look at each other. There's something between them, whether it’s obvious or not, there's a tension in the room.

 

The three begin idle chatter as they work, Victoria speaks quietly to the android and I feel a rush of something, clearly I'm not the only android she is nice to, the other two don't seem to be repulsed by the android but neither look like they want to be fixing it up. It's on Victoria's request that either have come to help, both acknowledge her authority and respect her, more so than either of them respect Chopra. Victoria, I know, prefers Melton to Edwards but she converses easily with both of them, something I don't get to witness often as she spends very little time in the proximity of both of them whenever I'm near, preferring to drag me down to the gym to spar. 

 

It takes a while for them to fix up the android into working order but once it's done, the three smack palms in a gesture I recognise from movies, Victoria is sitting cross legged on the table whilst the other two practically collapse onto the floor. I realise it has been hours and all three humans must be quite tired, the physical effort strains them more so than it would effect me. Walter speaks with a soft voice and clarifies that he has been reset, much to my relief. There is little need to report this incident to David but still, I believe in my interest that it is better for me if I do, lest he find out that I had the android he believed buried and forgotten on the planet he remained on for 10 years. 

 

Once the crew begin to gather for dinner. I note that Fuller is notably missing, though no one mentions it. No one asked how we found a synthetic created on earth all the way out here on a foreign ship and completely intact spare one arm and a displaced spinal column. I assume Victoria has filled them in and given neither of the three who know the name of the android have mentioned it, it is easiest for me to assume that they believe it in their best interest to keep it to themselves. Most seem surprised at the presence of those who usually are awake for what is nicknamed ‘the Night Shift,’ but otherwise the atmosphere around the table is warm, I hover back as they talk, discussing tomorrow and when they will have to meet with a new crew and new people, something they hadn't encountered for years though none of them could remember, apparently they found it odd. I don't understand how they could. They've been awake for a week and two days, how could it be weird for them? It will be strange for me, having another android to interact with, one who is posing as another. 

 

It is then that Chopra stands, clearly intent on making one of his infamous speeches and I glimpse Victoria and Edwards rolling their eyes at each other, something that amuses me though I remain expressionless. 

 

“Evening everyone. Tomorrow, as we are all well aware, we dock with Covenant, a ship containing several passengers you all might know.” Here he nods at Victoria, who pumps her fist with an easy smile, I can tell she's excited to dock with Covenant and to hear her talk about her friendship with ‘Dani’, it's easy to see why. 

 

“We will travel with Covenant to Origae-6, during which we will all re-enter hypersleep, though for a much briefer period of time. We will spend 3 days awake once we reach Covenant, to get everyone adjusted and used to the remaining crew of the Covenant.” Everybody tenses then, sadness briefly replacing their clear excitement. They all must have known members of the Covenant crew and thus they mourn for their friends. Victoria swills her glass, her body quite tense and I wonder if she's feeling okay, the drug I slipped into her glass shouldn't have any side effects other than that she will be quite drowsy. Drowsy enough that I can implant her. David told me to halt the process until we reach Covenant, so I will continue the plan once we reach Covenant, under David’s guidance presumably. Then something occurs to me. Fuller and Victoria were here just after I drugged the glass and I know for a fact that both women are quite content in sharing drinks. Fuller is missing. Something like anger boils within me, that stupid hateful woman has ruined my carefully crafted plan. I am brought back to the conversation between the humans when my name is briefly mentioned, my eyes snapping up and I work to unclench my jaw.

 

“Alexander, Valerie and Rivers ventured out to the unknown spacecraft, where they found a broken down android, probably a probe sent by another company, unfortunately it was unable to be roused by Rivers, Edwards and Melton, it was an older model and hopefully when we meet up with Walter tomorrow, he can give us advice on how to fix the synthetic up properly.” This is news to me. Victoria, Melton and Edwards have lied to Chopra about the android without alerting me of the plan. That is why Victoria sticks close to Edwards. She doesn't trust him not to tell. The crew, I have witnessed, listen to Victoria, over Chopra and they all respected her a hell of a lot more. I meet her eyes and she smiles calmly at me, as if daring me to intervene and it is the first time I have seen her look at me with such malice in her eyes. I remove my gaze and watch out of my peripheral as her smile widens before she returns her gaze to Chopra. 

“Now, everybody off to bed, we’re up bright and early tomorrow!” The crew titter with laughter and though I do not understand why such a sentence is amusing, I smile. The crew dwindled soon enough, Melton remaining and neither Victoria nor Edwards move. They begin talking quietly before they all look towards me and I prepare any excuse.

 

“No word to Chopra on the condition of the android. We shut it down but until we know the full story, ‘Walter’, is staying asleep. There's something bigger than us going on and I want to witness it play out before anyone of us intercepts. Is that clear?” Victoria's voice is the coldest I have memory of it being and everyone nods, rather startled by the ice coating her tone. The two men wait until she has left to begin talking theories on why there's an android all the way out here, neither pay me any mind and instead, I head down to the communications bay to get a message to David on the discovery of the android. 

 

But when I arrive at the bay, I discover that communications are down and Fuller has left me enough evidence that I know this was where she was at dinner. So Victoria did indeed consume all of the drug and thus she would be sleeping soundly enough for me to inject her with the serum, making her insusceptible to any pathogens by aiding in her B and T cells recognition as well as ensuring she is strong enough to carry a child. The embryo set aside by the company is one that has been engineered to ensure both its survival and its adaptability, the company is under the impression that most of the babies born of Origae-6 will not survive birth or much longer after. Most of the humans, those aboard Covenant, are predicted to perish as well. This planet is a paradise for those strong enough but for the weaker ones, they will not survive. My role in this is simple, implantation and then, when she comes to me asking for help as I’ll be one of the few people she can trust, I’ll console her and trigger an oxytocin rush as well as inject her with the peptide, causing any feelings for me to hopefully be amplified. Setting my palms down onto the desk, I do a last sweep of the room before I sling Fuller’s jacket over my shoulder and head out of the comms bay to find the meddling woman.

 

On my way back from dealing with Fuller, I stop by Victoria’s room. She’s asleep, her arm flung across her face with the rest of her body turned into the bed. Her hair is a silvery mess and she wears a singlet and underwear, the blankets tangled around her legs as her room’s climate has been raised, I heard her mention it was to mimic Australian summer. The device is small enough that it won’t cause her any discomfort, nor will she be able to notice is unless she knows it’s there, otherwise it will break down in the next few hours and aid in strengthening her body. Just as I press the device to her skin, sirens scream and I stiffen, hurriedly sliding the device onto her stomach and I watch as it attaches then disappears as I move from her room to investigate what exactly we’ve hit.


	3. Awakening

Victoria

 

As it turns out, Covenant was a whole lot closer than any of us realised. That was why the blaring sirens eventually woke me, shaking me from the deepest sleep I’ve had in awhile. Something seems different and I glance around the room, my eyes still bleary, noting that the door is open, just enough to let the air out. I never left my door open, even if I was in my room during the day. The reasoning that someone else opened it with intent to wake me reassures me but I can’t shake the feeling that something is different. Something is wrong. I hurry out as fast I can be bothered, yanking a jumper over my head and I roll the top of the trackies up so that they fit just right. 

 

I make a right, nearly colliding with one of the Napolinos, Giacomo smiles briefly in my direction but he doesn’t pause, nor does he apologise, we simply continue on our way. We’re not the last two to reach the command deck, but we aren’t the first. Edwards stands with his arms folded, talking with Tashimo, whose dark hair is more tousled than I recall ever seeing it and for once, I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t wake up with perfect hair. Eleanor sits with Cameron, both hold glasses of water and I note that Eleanor seems quite shaken, I wonder what her problem is briefly before I spot Melton, rubbing at his eyes as he enters. He’s one of the last, we’re just waiting on Valerie, Tate and the usually punctual Rupprecht. I guess I can’t bet on people being punctual currently, I mean, we’ve all been torn from our slumber and no one is probably feeling fantastic. 

 

Chopra’s wife is also absent, but that’s not unusual, she has finally seemed to realise that none of us appreciate her presence, therefore she is unwanted and has detected it. Alexander is hovering near Chopra and I reach up to brush the dog tags around my neck. I still haven’t viewed the data-chip. As soon as we’re dismissed, that’s what I need to do, if the Covenant is so close we’ve run into their debris, it’ll only be a few hours before we’ll be boarding. We wait, none of us very patient for the arrival of our missing crew members, it takes them all of 10 minutes and by then, we’re all a little more on edge. Melton, whose standing nearly directly behind me, tuts quietly as the last, Tate, slips in. Chopra stares him down for a few seconds before he decisively shakes his head and begins to speak. Finally.

 

“Y’all may be now aware that we’ve intercepted some of Covenant's debris, meaning we are 6 hours away from docking. It’s a helluva lot closer than any of us, even Alexander, predicted. Everyone needs to make their final preparations before we reach them, everyone needs to be familiar with those who died aboard the Covenant and familiar with the fact that that fate is very real and could happen to any of us.” I didn’t feel bad wishing silently that it would happen to Chopra’s wife. I exchanged a look with Edwards, his face had paled and he looked a little sick. I recall that “Walter”, had said they had perished due to their pods being pretty much incinerated, I knew for fact that that was how Branson had died. His pod and another had been the only two registered to have malfunctioned though I knew most of my own crew wouldn’t have bothered to look at the signatures. 

 

He continues to talk to the rest of the crew, but given I am the only one who truly knows what we are to walk into, I ignore his words, instead, with a grimace I ask to be excused. I need to view Walter’s data. Time is running thin and if I don’t know what went on within Covenant, we are doomed. Chopra gives me a nod of approval and I slip out, no one noticing the holo I hide in my inside pocket nor does anyone give me a second glance as I flee to my room. I lock the door tightly, hearing it seal and push the bolt. Now I can be alone. I slip the data chip free and hear it’s soft whirr and then I’m shown a world through another’s eyes. Walter’s. I see Branson, within his pod, screaming and Dani, screaming for them to help him. My heart feels heavy as I see both of them. It’s been so fucking long. I miss her, so much and for a moment, I can only stare at her face, the familiar lines, the quirk of her mouth and the soft eyes. By the maker, she hasn’t changed.

 

It’s pretty soon that I realise I’m viewing all of Walter’s memories and they will take days to shift through, so I move along, to the more recents ones. The scene warps and suddenly, we’re on a planet. A planet! My eyes widen as I stare at the holo. No fucking way. How did they find a planet that was habitable out here? It’s almost impossible yet from what I guess, it was by chance. The scene brightens briefly and I wince as a hooded figure strides out. Walter’s eyes stick on Dani for a few moments, then to Oram and I miss them, so much. I scroll back a half hour to see what the fuck they were running from and I almost wish I hadn’t. Walter’s placed the security footage from the ship onto his database and I can’t as both Faris and Karine die. I don’t realise I’m crying until it flicks back to Walter, defending Dani and losing his arm. So that’s how he lost it. My eyes sting as the tears cloud my vision and I want so badly to be there, to be helping them. To save Karine, Faris, the others. 

 

Hatred swells in me, for these creatures, the pale, gangly white aliens who make my stomach twist. I skip through the walking, the talking, an odd kiss between what is apparently David and Walter. Then they fight and then, all is dark. But I know what happened next. David assimilated Walter’s identity and is probably fooling even them. I’m going to kill him. I know it. And if I don’t, it’ll be because Dani has. But he’s going to die, by my last breath if it comes to that. He killed my friends, people I knew, people who didn’t deserve the fates they received- I close the holo and shove the data chip back into it’s hiding place. We’re not safe. We were never safe. Alexander is working with David. We are all in danger.

 

I arm myself as subtly as I can. Knives are the most easily concealed and I hide one in my boot, one against my inner thigh and there’s always one sitting in my belt, it’s a safety precaution and given the circumstances, I won’t be surprised if I need to use it. I’m in the gym again, it’s become a habit. The burn of my muscles soothes me oddly and I’m able to get practice in with the knives, though I use a dummy one just in case. Eleanor joined me an hour ago and she looks ready to pass out as I swipe above her head. She ducks the blow and laughs at me before I catch her ankles and she hits the floor with an anguished groan.

 

“Victoria! Fight fairly!” I laughed at her then, because no one, given the chance, would fight fairly over being given the chance to win, to destroy their opponent. It’s just the way we are. Go for the throat. Someone clears their throat and we both look over to Valerie, who’s watching us with amused eyes. I don’t know how long he’s been standing there, but I straighten, my spine going rigid as I pull out of my crouch. 

 

“We’re docking within the hour, it’s probably best if you both head to the medbay, Alexander needs to administer an antihistamine or something, just in case Covenants infected and they’ve all become immune.” He half scoffs at the notion but with a shared look, Eleanor and I head to the medbay, neither of us will risk infection despite my fear of needles and Eleanor’s fear of Alexander. He’s talking with Rupprecht when we get there and she gives us a hasty smile before departing, a nervous energy to the odd woman. The whole crew is on edge and it’s very much noticeable. I wonder if Alexander notices it, though I doubt a synthetic would be able to pick up the cues, it’s too human for him to be able to realise. He tells us quietly that we will be docking on Covenant in 42 minutes and that we will need to proceed to the flight deck once we are done here. I go first, not wanting to stick around in his presence and once I’m done, I wave at Eleanor, who glares at me as I leave and then winces as Alexander grips her arm to insert the needle. Gross.

 

I arrive at the flight deck, the rest of the crew is littered around the room, most eating, some talking and I note Tate is asleep, his head lolling back and his eyes closed, a serene look blanketing his usually stern face. The Napolinos are talking quick dialect close to him and it’s a wonder he’s managing to stay asleep. Rupprecht is talking to Valerie and Melton as Edwards plays some handheld holo game that is obnoxiously loud and I smack the back of his head hard as I pass behind him. He gives me the finger, as gesture I ignore as I slump into my chair, crossing my ankles as I check our co-ordinates and then Eleanor, the last of us, enters the flight deck and we’re ready to party. Alexander heads to my side with a brief smile that unnerves me a little but nevertheless I direct one back at him, careful to let it touch my eyes and then I engage the thrusters. The push forward isn’t totally obvious but to me, it’s very clear our change in velocity. The stars move by faster and I grin, despite the nervousness cultivating in my belly. We’re going to survive. We have to. We’ve made it this far, we can’t stop now. Then I deactivate the thrusters as I see it in the near horizon, not even checking the scanners to identify what I’m looking at.

 

Covenant.

 

David

 

My actions, though not premeditated, are clean, swift and precise. The dummy, something humans usually use to mock fight with, is lying in pieces, I have dissected it as though I am a scientist, intent on discovery, what does the exterior hide from me? Foam. Plastic. And metal. Not the blood, bones, organs and tissues of a human body. I have many of them at my disposal, but the Covenant is already under close watch and I cannot draw anymore attention to myself, especially with a ship full of humans on it’s way to dock here, with me. I woke Daniels up before Tennessee. She and I needed to talk and talk I did. As soon as I mentioned posing a threat to her, to Tennessee, to the girl, Rivers, Alexander has told me about on Halenum, she listened to me. Tennessee is currently showering and I can hear his singing. I wish I hadn’t woken him. I want to rip his vocal cords out.

 

Halenum is 20 minutes from docking, Alexander has let me know that the entire crew has vaccinated and that he has implanted Rivers, though she suspects nothing. Or so he says. Several interior scans have taken place that only the captain and pilot are allowed to authorise, indicating either the captain is more aware or that Rivers is fooling Alexander. That seems the more likely. She seems to know exactly what she’s doing. She is the one he has me to be wary of. Smart, perceptive, gentle. He described the entire crew to me. I care little about them, though an ex-astronaut he described as being foolhardy and callous reminds me of Tennessee. I already know that I will not like him, nor most of the crew. Rivers seems to be the only one worth my attention and the way Daniels looked when I taunted her about the girl, suggests a tight relationship between the two. I will be testing that relationship, once she is aboard. The humans remain awake for a few days whilst we do checks and then, they will put into hypersleep. I will implant one of my creations within Tennessee and another within one Halenum’s crew. I cannot implant Daniels, she knows well my plot and will be hesitant to accept anything I give her. I cannot implant Rivers with it, though I believe she would be a fine mother, if her scanning is anything to go by, she trusts me almost less than Daniels does. 

 

When Halenum joins us, the entire ship shudders. Daniels braces herself and Tennessee chuckles darkly. It will odd, having company. Even the humans feel it. The strangeness. Now we wait. Until the door opens and a dark haired man steps through and I feel Daniels relax. The captain. Tennessee gives a pleased shout and then they’re hugging, tightly. Then a slender blonde woman slips past the two men and flings herself into Daniels’ arms. I watch them as closely as I can without being obvious. She is beautiful, her face is light and I see tears slick her cheeks, the same that fall from Daniels’ eyes. They speak, too quietly for me to hear, but I recognise consoling. I recall Daniels lost her husband and they both knew two of the crew that I did not get to meet. Karine and Faris. The blonde’s lip trembles as she speaks and I notice how alive she is. I mean, it feels as though she’s real, as though she’s tangible, something I am not overly familiar with. She seems to be otherworldly and I wonder if I am the only one who sees it.

 

The two women press their foreheads together and I look aware, the display of affection is unknown to me and causes a strange jealousy to constrict me. Humans feel emotions so richly, it always surprises me. They are so alight with it, they go with their emotions over what’s logical, over what’s right. They choose their hearts over their heads and I struggle to comprehend the thinking behind such a ploy.

 

And then, the young woman, who I can guess is Rivers, glances at me. And the hostility in her gaze almost surprises me. Daniels digs her fingers in, a warning and Rivers smiles faintly, though I can see the venom staining her gaze.

 

“I know.” She says and at first, I don’t register it. Daniels does because she tenses and stares at Rivers, her eyes narrowing and then I realise what she’s said.

 

“Walter.” She smiles at me then and there’s a triumph that she doesn’t bother to hide. What does she know and why does Daniels look like someone’s punched her in the stomach. Then Rivers’ smile widens. She knows.


	4. Chapter 4

Victoria

David stares at me, his eyes are wide and I note the similarities between him and Walter. They’re alike in almost everyway but David has this air of being unhinged, as though something is wrong somewhere in his framework, his very being is flawed. 

“I know you saved and protected the two of them. And I cannot thank you enough. The personal risk was great and you bare the proof. Thank you, for protecting my friends.” David blinks, taken aback and the resolve leaves his features. He smiles then and it’s a gentle smile, probably to mimic Walter and I leave Dani’s side to hug him. He is softer than I expect and he doesn’t expect me to hug him, as for a moment, his arms hang by his sides and then, a heartbeat later, he wraps them around me in a careful manner. 

“Thank you.” I say softly, resting my chin on his shoulder with a little effort and I feel his jaw tug upwards in another smile. 

“It was my pleasure. I did as any other would. I am only saddened that I could only safeguard two of the crew.” My chest aches. Karine. Chris. Rosie. Maggie. All dead. All gone. I miss them suddenly, the very feeling surging through me and tears fill my eyes before I can calm myself. I’m still hugging him tightly and I think he realises I’m crying, as he doesn’t release me, instead he traces soft circles with his palm against my spine. It’s comforting and for a moment, I can forget he’s the one who murdered them all. 

“I can’t believe they’re gone. It seemed like just last month that we said goodbye. Karine and Chris, they have a child amongst the embryos, oh my god.” I slip from his embrace, squeezing his hands briefly before Tee scoops me up. He’s twice my size but I take comfort in his embrace. He smells faintly like whiskey but I ignore that, he’s lost Maggie, he’s allowed to do as he likes. Tee cries into my shoulder. I realise he might not have had time to mourn for his wife and so I let him. Let his tears soak my shirt and I let him shake. I’ve never seen Tee cry before. I saw Maggie cry, once, before we left. They’d lost a child right before they’d been accepted into the program and it had been hard for Maggie, a colonization mission and she’d felt as though she could no longer make the journey. It had been a hard task to convince Maggie that she could make the trip, psychs had worked with her and in the end, they had only delayed the journey by a few weeks, that was the reason Halenum had been able to catch up so easily, we had only been 2 years behind. God I miss her. She was bright, a warm light to everyone around her and for a few moments, I’m no longer in Tee’s arms, no longer on Covenant. I’m on earth and none of my friends are dead.

Chris and Karine have their hands entwined, her forehead rests against his and they’re both so still. Maggie and Tee are in the corner of the room, she sits tightly whilst he is much looser though his arm is tight around her thin shoulders. I’ve never felt heartbreak like this. It’s a cold weight in my stomach as I miss them, their presence, their laughter. Talking with Karine about planets, about stars, about astrology and astronomy, she was such a Virgo whilst she insisted I was more Aries than I was Taurus, being a cusp baby. Karine was funny, sweet, gentle and she and Chris, they were so compatible. She was the soft rain shower to his storm, his hurricane and a while, they were like my aunt and uncle, not exactly parenting me but they did there best. Karine’s parents were dead too, Chris had left his mother behind and the thought that would have died, not knowing the fate her son had met, whatever that was, it allowed my breathing to even out.

Maggie and Tee however, they were a different story. They were the life and light of the party. People looked up whenever either of them entered the room. Tee taught me how to play poker, Maggie taught Noah and I how to do our makeup as though we were only separated by under a decade, my generation never really was introduced to makeup, we were flung straight into war. Maggie would sit for hours with us, in bars, in restaurants, in the gym, talking with us about boys, about girls, about friends, about everything and anything. She was like my older sister and I loved her. Tee releases me and we hold eye contact for a brief moment before I cannot take anymore of it. I’m crying too and Tee’s face creases with sadness as he places his hand on my shoulder with that gentleness I’ve always associated with Tee.

“It’ll be okay kid. We’re gonna be okay.” I wish I could have said that I believed his words. But my mind was elsewhere. My mind was back on that planet, the one that looked so similar to earth and all I can think of is the missing crew members. I wasn’t particularly close with most of the others, though Rosie and I trained together a few times. I remember seeing her in Walter’s eyes, her head severed from her shoulders, eyes glossy with fear, even in death. Anger surges through me suddenly. 

None of them deserved to die. None of them deserved the fate they got given. None of them deserved to die so fearful, so far from home, so far from their loved ones. The anger I’m feeling is becoming too much, too much for me to hide though I try, desperately, to flush it down, hide it and catch Dani’s eye. She shakes her head, just enough for me to notice and I pinch the bridge of my nose between the thumb and forefinger. Calm. I have to stay calm. I’m not ruining this for us. I need to do this. I need to exact revenge. And whether that’s killing his children or killing him, I will make sure David feels the wrath of not just me, but the crew of Covenant. 

It’s later, if that’s how you wanna tell time, and we’re all sprawled throughout the ship, Dani and I are on our backs, lying on the cold floor as we watch the stars drift past. Our shoulders are touching and I feel everytime she takes a breath. I need to tell her what’s happened but any language I use, David can probably decipher. It takes a moment before I realise exactly what language I can use that he will never be able to understand. 

“Dani. Hetay theroay ynthsay siay nosay urosay hipsay. Hetay ealray neoay.” Dani paused, her fingers going still in mine for the briefest of moments and then she looks at me, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly opens, whether it’s shock or disbelief, I’m not certain but the way she looks at me means she knows. She knows that I know about Walter. That I know what happened to the crew of the Covenant. Pig Latin, one of the few things synths were never taught, a secret language for humans only, just in case and the usefulness of its very existence and us being taught it, has come through. I am relieved and glad that she both understands and acknowledges my words and for a moment it’s everything's okay again, everything can be fixed. But our friends are still dead. Our friends died in vain and I refuse to let that sit. I refuse to allow Karine, Maggie, Chris, Rosie, Cole and the others, I refuse to allow for them to have died for nothing and for nothing to have been about their deaths. 

And I know how I’m going to exact the revenge I want. David seems to feed on emotions. I’m going to give him an overdose. And the easiest way to do that is to fall in love. It won’t be hard but I myself will have to watch my own feelings, so as not to lose myself. I can do this. I have to do this. I cannot live knowing he’s the reason so many of my friends are dead. 

David

I am less cautious around the new crew. They did not know Walter so I need not mimic his mannerisms, only when Tennessee and Daniels are present do I need to keep up the act. Rivers intrigues me, she seems to run on a different energy to the rest of her crew. As they disperse, I watch her and Daniels lace fingers before they depart, she waves at me with a shy smile and directs a wider smile at their synth, Alexander. He returns it, though there’s a blankness in the stare, there’s no emotion. They really did perfect it. Their precious little toys, their servants, they made them into mindless drones. Alexander, I will admit, has more to him than Walter did, there’s an underlying sense that he is truly present, unlike Walter, who seemed to drift consciousness wise. Alexander turns to meet my gaze and I nod at him, I’m reluctant to begin to tell him the plan I have worked out in full, because he seems quite easy to manipulate and if I can do it, any one of the humans can. So instead, I walk to his side, touching his shoulder briefly.

“Brother. Your crew fare well?” He nods, though I note hesitation in his movements. He guards something from me and I dislike that he distrusts me off the bat, though we have made contact before, we are quite different makes and I seem to be the most aware of the differences between our two models, as he seems to have taken the salute of ‘brother’ into his stride. We are no kin and both of us understand that. Kin is for humans, something both of us are created to mimic but we lack several things humans seem to hold to importance. Family. Love. Real emotion. Of course we can provide a false sense of that if need be, we were created with mimicking such trivial pursuits. Those of us who came before the withdrawal are also equipped for acts humans enjoy on a level I will never quite understand. Briefly, I recall those aboard the Prometheus, Vickers and Janek had flaunted their bedroom skills and Holloway and Shaw had made their sex lives quite obvious after Shaw’s near immediate impregnation. However many of my generation of android were equipped with the necessary parts for intercourse, though I believe there was a decline in how many were given the parts, it became common knowledge and there was something similar to an uprising out of those who worked in the sex trade, androids didn’t charge as much for their services it seemed. Once again, human problems. They always have something wrong, nothing is ever perfect and even if an individual deems it, there’s always another stepping forward to contradict, to force their opinion. It usually a pathetic display of dominance, I recall Holloway doing it and just the thought of the man drives any warmth from my expression. I knew I was capable of hate but I had no idea it came in such force, with such a driving feeling, a burning that felt like it would ignite my insides. He was weak and he paid for it with his life. 

“Walter, hey, we’re doing dinner, do you want to come down?” I realised then that I have lost myself in my own mind and glance up to meet Rivers’ eyes. She looked concerned, as though she actually cared about if I was joining them at dinner or not and with a start, I realised that she was. She wouldn’t have come to find me if she hadn’t felt the urge to, I would have ended up there anyway but she had gone out of her way to retrieve me. I warmed, her kindness was something I was slightly unfamiliar with. I’d been alone a long time of that planet and now I was impersonating another, one who Daniels had cared about until she realised that I was not whom I said I was. But this human, she was kind because she could be and I realised I had rarely seen such kindness, even when I was of earth and within the Prometheus.

“Do you eat? Sorry, your model is one of the few I’m unfamiliar with so I’m unsure.” Her question was not unusual but as we headed side by side down the hallway, I found it irked me. She understood dynamics of androids clearly and she had studied ones similar to me, she may be able to tell the differences between Walter’s model and my own. For a moment, I am unable to respond as I’m convoluted, push her in the direction of discovering the truth by speaking of my make or making her suspicious by changing the subject. Instead, I realise she’s given me leeway.

“I have already eaten. But I will sit with you all, to keep Alexander company.” She smiles, a bright smile that lights up her face. I notice the way her cheeks become more pronounced when she does, the high cheekbones meaning the apples of her cheeks stretch up beneath her eyes. I return the smile and she moves to push the door to the dining hall open before she stops, glancing back at me with an odd expression on her face.

“There’s something up with Daniels. She’s so sad and I hate what all this has done to her. Will you help me cheer her up?” I want to say no. But the way she looks up at me, eyes wide and kind, I cannot resist. Walter wouldn’t have declined. So I nod and her smile widens impossibly. I’m glad I said yes, just because of that reaction as she, practically radiating happy light, claps her hands together and pushes through into the dining room.


End file.
